The train from Oulx to Turin was of the short regional variety, a multi-carriage railcar in reality, but very agreeable. And new, and spotless. Catherine and I were the only ones in our carriage, which initially made me think we'd accidentally settled into first class, until I realised there were no separate classes on the train, or people for that matter. We wove our way along a sometimes windy track, through tunnels, alongside cliff faces, and - over to our le...

I ache. Every part of me is rebelling. After a week's torture on the ski slopes of sunny Sauze d'Oulx, my body is in need of overhaul. On the other hand my thighs are now like tree trunks. Unfortunately they feel like they're suffering from Dutch Elm Disease and might need felling. But oh what a glorious tiredness, what a refreshing exhaustion. Thing is, skiing is just so totally and utterly different to my everyday life. It is to most people's, unless you're a ...

I was gently and quietly swaying my way up one of the Sauze d'Oulx chairlifts today, the gorgeous snow sliding beneath me, pitted with lost poles, gloves, ski maps, and, almost certainly, mobile phones already sunk and out of sight. It got me thinking, since I was on my own on this particular lift, what a great scene it would make in a spy movie, if I were the bad guy, and my target was in the chair behind me. I could just turn around, twist the secret ring on m...

As Catherine and I clattered and thumped our way into our apartment building yesterday, lugging skis and snowboard and wearing boots of lead, we looked forward to collapsing in our rooms. We reached the tiny lift, only to hear a stream of rapid Italian directed at us from the dim reaches of the farthest end of the corridor. 'Spaghetti bambino di taverna o solo mio!', a middle-aged woman with an air of authority, said. Or words to that effect. She came towards us...

Mountains are humbling. They are silently majestic in morning and evening light, terrifying when they roar into life in a landslide or avalanche, and they throw out a challenge to all who look at them: I am here: what will you do? Well, conquer them for one, ask any mountaineer. Someone has always wanted to be first to climb this peak or that, and plant a symbolic flag on the summit. Personally I am happy to leave all that adventurous stuff to people far more q...